RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. It provides an easy way to gather and display information from varied and multiple sources, including news stories, updates to websites, and new posts to blogs. Many people use an RSS reader in order to organize all of these updates in one place.
Using RSS as an Educational Resource
RSS provides the timeliness of receiving fast updates on the sites or blogs you are interested in. The content is modified to show just a portion of the text so that you can quickly peruse to see which feeds you'd like to read in its entirety.
Advantages of using RSS as an Educational Resource
RSS allows you to curate your own version of the Internet, so that you are only seeing the sources that you want to see without all the junk involved.
RSS can save you time so that you don't have to go out to resources to retrieve information. The information comes directly to you.
Here are a few links touting the advantages of using RSS Feeds in Education:
Disadvantages of using RSS as an Educational Resource
RSS readers can be overwhelming and one more thing to check
RSS readers are a technology that is fading away. Google just recently shut down Google Reader.
Companies can't make money from RSS readers because it is difficult to serve advertisements from them, so they won't be supported in the long-term by major companies which will mean they will not be updated.
It takes work to compile the resources and many students would not want to do this
Graphics and photos do not appear
Ways To Use RSS Without Using a Feed Reader
Flipboard - Flipboard is an application that allows you to curate and customize your own online magazine. Flipboard is essentially an RSS reader that nobody would recognize as an RSS reader because it lays out your content in a way that is enjoyable and wonderful to read from.
One of the problems with RSS feeds as mentioned above is how to manage all of the feeds you receive in one day. The last thing we, as educators, need is to be inundated with more work and more things to sift through. In our search for efficiency we came upon the following website from LifeHacker. It gives great suggestions for managing your RSS feeds. Also, a link to Flipboard is listed, which is explained above.
Home > Group B Workspace > Learning Activity 4-C-1
Topic: Uses of RSS as an Educational Resource
Overview: What is RSS?
RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. It provides an easy way to gather and display information from varied and multiple sources, including news stories, updates to websites, and new posts to blogs. Many people use an RSS reader in order to organize all of these updates in one place.
Using RSS as an Educational Resource
RSS provides the timeliness of receiving fast updates on the sites or blogs you are interested in. The content is modified to show just a portion of the text so that you can quickly peruse to see which feeds you'd like to read in its entirety.
Advantages of using RSS as an Educational Resource
Disadvantages of using RSS as an Educational Resource
Ways To Use RSS Without Using a Feed Reader
Flipboard - Flipboard is an application that allows you to curate and customize your own online magazine. Flipboard is essentially an RSS reader that nobody would recognize as an RSS reader because it lays out your content in a way that is enjoyable and wonderful to read from.
Flipboard
Too Many Feeds!!!
One of the problems with RSS feeds as mentioned above is how to manage all of the feeds you receive in one day. The last thing we, as educators, need is to be inundated with more work and more things to sift through. In our search for efficiency we came upon the following website from LifeHacker. It gives great suggestions for managing your RSS feeds. Also, a link to Flipboard is listed, which is explained above.
Too Many RSS Feeds! How Do I Get Through Them All!
**Alternatives to using RSS as an Educational Resource**
Check out these resources to learn more about RSS
http://www.slideshare.net/leonardstern/rss-in-education
http://www.rss-specifications.com/rss-and-education.htm
http://weblogg-ed.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/05/RSSFAQ4.pdf
http://beyond-school.org/2008/03/29/beyond-rss-using-alltopcom-to-teach-writing/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10628494